“To me, a perfect wine leaves you speechless – at a loss for words as you try to describe the flavors and textures that swirl about the palate. The notepad is set aside, the pen put away as the search for words begins. And they don’t come.” On the blog for J.J. Buckley, Chuck Hayward writes a thoughtful essay on Torbreck’s “The Laird.”

“A decade ago, Finger Lakes wines weren’t discussed a lot outside upstate New York. But now that the wines have received glowing media attention, a book-length treatment, and choice placements on restaurant wine lists, some outsiders are asking, ‘What’s all the fuss about?’” In Wine-Searcher, Tyler Colman discovers the Finger Lakes.

“Everyone with a big cellar realizes in the end they don’t have enough friends to drink it all with.” The Guardian covers the sale of wine writer Hugh Johnson’s cellar, which goes on the auction block today.

On Decanter.com, Louis Villard writes about sommelier Rajat Parr and winemaker Sashi Moorman and their plans to launch “Domaine de la Côte” in the Santa Rita Hills AVA of Santa Barbara County.

In the Wall Street Journal Europe, Will Lyons praises Frances “distinctive Appellation Contrôlée system” for being “an easy-to-digest classification that categorizes wines based on their origin and production.” And he urges Italy to mimic it. Is France’s classification system really easy-to-digest?!

In Slave to the Grape, Mick Cameron offers the second part of his interview with Boris Champy of Domaine Louis Latour. (In case you missed it, Part 1.)